TIRINKOT - Local officials on Tuesday accused police of preventing the dispatch of medicine to district health centers in central Uruzgan province. But the provincial police chief rejected the allegation.
Official claimed said no health worker had links with any groups; instead they were working hard to provide basic health services to all people without any discrimination.
Dr. Sayed Rahman Rahmanzai, head of Afghan Health and Development Services (AHDS) organisation, told Pajhwok Afghan News health workers were neutral and no warring side should create problems for them.
He said AHDS workers had been delivering health services in the provincial capital, districts and remote areas of Uruzgan for the past several years. Thousands of people, including women, have benefitted from the services.
However, Rahmanzai said they were not allowed to send drugs to health centers in districts and remote areas from the past four months. As a result, thousands of people have been deprived of health services and children of vaccination.
Despite permission from the governor to send drugs to healthcare centers, police stopped AHDS drivers transporting medicines and beat them up, he alleged.
He said healthcare centers in districts were faced with a shortage of medicine. The organisation twice transported medicine through the Nesh district of Kandahar to the Charchino town of Uruzgan and once through Ghazni province.
Rahmanzai explained they were unable to transport drugs through those routes due to security problems.
Public Health Director Dr. Khan Agha Miakhel confirmed the problem and said they had shared the issue with the governor, who ordered all relevant organs not to create problems for the organisation.
On the other hand, security officials denied preventing the transportation of drugs to district healthcare centers. Police chief, Brig. Gen. Wali Jan Sarhadi, said they never hampered the delivery of health services. (Pajhwok)